Democrats in Turmoil: Crockett Unleashes on Trump, Party in Chaos

Paul Riverbank, 2/10/2026Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett shakes up Senate primary, fueling intraparty chaos and unpredictable political drama.

This was hardly the first time Crockett had shaken up a hearing, nor the first time she’d leveled accusations of selective justice on the record. “Right now we know that they were willing to try to throw the Clintons in prison for not showing up yet,” she said, barely missing a beat. The comparison felt deliberate, a reminder that Democrats view Trump’s allies as shielded from consequences that others, namely the Clintons, have struggled to avoid. The Oversight Committee’s latest drama: Chairman James Comer threatening contempt for Bill and Hillary Clinton after their initial refusal to testify, even as the pair ultimately agreed to closed-door questioning. As the committee churns, so do the headlines.

But Crockett is battling on another front back home, with her bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate running under a microscope. For all her outspokenness in Congress, her campaign operation has left party strategists scratching their heads. NOTUS recently revealed that she lacks a campaign manager entirely—an oddity in Texas, where every statewide race tends to be a hydra of consultants, field teams, and ad buyers. Crockett’s aides shrugged off the skepticism. To them, this is Washington chaff. Their under-the-radar approach, they insist, is closer to the grassroots spirit Texas Democrats have been clamoring for, even as the campaign’s website only just started to display policy positions—and not without typos.

This unconventional playbook hasn’t hurt her name recognition. Most voters, if they know any Democratic Senate candidate, know her. Even so, her chief rival, James Talarico—a young, telegenic state legislator from Round Rock—has outspent Crockett on television, radio, and digital ads by what one campaign analyst described as a “Texas-sized” margin, roughly 19 to 1. Crockett, for her part, hasn’t aired a single TV ad so far. Supporters like Jen Ramos, a fixture in the Texas Democratic Party, argue that traditional campaign tactics simply don’t translate for candidates like Crockett. “The old ways weren’t built for people like us,” Ramos told me last week, her voice half admiration, half admonishment.

The polling picture is, in true Texas style, unpredictable. In one University of Houston survey, Crockett held an eight-point lead on Talarico—47 to 39 percent among Democrats likely to vote—while an Emerson College poll had Talarico ahead by nearly the same margin. Depending on the pollster, anywhere from a tenth to a fifth of likely voters still haven’t made up their minds, leaving the outcome in limbo.

But personalities and tactics aren’t the only issues on the trail. Crockett’s critics—often behind closed doors, more rarely in public—question whether she can pivot from fiery hearings to a general election battle in a state where just winning the Democratic primary is only half the climb. The critics point to eyebrow-raising comments from past interviews, including a suggestion that Hispanic voters who backed Trump have a “slave mentality” and her dig at Governor Greg Abbott as “Governor Hot Wheels.” (Abbott uses a wheelchair following an accident.) Allies argue Crockett is simply speaking truths that have long gone unspoken. “Our base is hungry for something different,” Crockett said, punctuating the sentence with a snap of her fingers. It was hard to miss the pride.

Meanwhile, the contest took a sharper—and undeniably more awkward—turn after a TikTok clip made the rounds, accusing Talarico of calling former Senate candidate Colin Allred a “mediocre Black man.” In conversation, Talarico downplayed any racial intent, explaining that he’d only criticized Allred’s campaign style, not his character or background. Crockett herself shrugged it off as the predictable heat of a “racially charged” campaign, signaling she has little time for internet-fueled distractions.

Money and influence, though, remain ever-present. Lone Star Rising, a PAC supporting Talarico, recently ran an ad hinting that Republicans were quietly backing Crockett, hoping she’d be easier to beat in November. Crockett accused her opponent of encouraging such attacks; Talarico denied it, maintaining his desire for a “positive campaign.”

Of course, all this is happening in a state where Democrats haven’t won a Senate race since the late ’80s and where, today, national forecasters still color Texas “Likely Republican.” GOP odds, per the latest from the betting markets, have dropped but remain solidly above sixty percent. The Republican field is unsettled itself: Senator John Cornyn is in a tense primary against Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt, with Paxton—a lightning rod even before his legal troubles—leading, especially among Trump’s most devoted base. But the former president has withheld an endorsement, leaving room for turmoil as the campaign calendar rushes ahead.

And while the numbers in hypothetical matchups show Republicans with only narrow edges—somewhere between two and four points, regardless of their nominee—it’s anyone’s guess if Democrats can consolidate after what’s shaping up as a brutal, deeply personal primary. Texas does have a history of surprises, though less frequently in statewide races these days. Trump’s steady gains with Latino voters since 2020—a margin stretching from 5.5 points up to nearly 14 in last year’s results—continue to give the GOP an extra cushion.

For now, both Crockett and Talarico are betting that the right kind of message, the right turnout, and just a bit of luck could upend assumptions. Crockett brands herself as the product of “unprecedented times,” while Talarico pitches unity over division, wary of the billionaire-backed forces he says threaten to splinter the party and state alike.

With the primary just weeks away—and a likely runoff looming if no one clears fifty percent—Democrats remain unsure, but not uninterested. Even among all the noise, a sense of stakes lingers: whichever candidate emerges, they’ll face a Texas political landscape where old rules seldom hold, and the path forward is anything but predictable.

Outside a wood-paneled committee room on Capitol Hill, Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett paused just long enough to let her frustration spill over. “We’re gonna be on his a—,” she fired at a crowd of reporters, her voice echoing through the marble corridor. The words—directed, unmistakably, at former President Donald Trump—followed a morning in which Crockett had watched Ghislaine Maxwell stonewall House investigators, refusing to answer questions that have kept Washington rumor mills spinning and Democrats agitating for answers on the late Jeffrey Epstein’s connections.This was hardly the first time Crockett had shaken up a hearing, nor the first time she’d leveled accusations of selective justice on the record. “Right now we know that they were willing to try to throw the Clintons in prison for not showing up yet,” she said, barely missing a beat. The comparison felt deliberate, a reminder that Democrats view Trump’s allies as shielded from consequences that others, namely the Clintons, have struggled to avoid. The Oversight Committee’s latest drama: Chairman James Comer threatening contempt for Bill and Hillary Clinton after their initial refusal to testify, even as the pair ultimately agreed to closed-door questioning. As the committee churns, so do the headlines.But Crockett is battling on another front back home, with her bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate running under a microscope. For all her outspokenness in Congress, her campaign operation has left party strategists scratching their heads. NOTUS recently revealed that she lacks a campaign manager entirely—an oddity in Texas, where every statewide race tends to be a hydra of consultants, field teams, and ad buyers. Crockett’s aides shrugged off the skepticism. To them, this is Washington chaff. Their under-the-radar approach, they insist, is closer to the grassroots spirit Texas Democrats have been clamoring for, even as the campaign’s website only just started to display policy positions—and not without typos.This unconventional playbook hasn’t hurt her name recognition. Most voters, if they know any Democratic Senate candidate, know her. Even so, her chief rival, James Talarico—a young, telegenic state legislator from Round Rock—has outspent Crockett on television, radio, and digital ads by what one campaign analyst described as a “Texas-sized” margin, roughly 19 to 1. Crockett, for her part, hasn’t aired a single TV ad so far. Supporters like Jen Ramos, a fixture in the Texas Democratic Party, argue that traditional campaign tactics simply don’t translate for candidates like Crockett. “The old ways weren’t built for people like us,” Ramos told me last week, her voice half admiration, half admonishment.The polling picture is, in true Texas style, unpredictable. In one University of Houston survey, Crockett held an eight-point lead on Talarico—47 to 39 percent among Democrats likely to vote—while an Emerson College poll had Talarico ahead by nearly the same margin. Depending on the pollster, anywhere from a tenth to a fifth of likely voters still haven’t made up their minds, leaving the outcome in limbo.But personalities and tactics aren’t the only issues on the trail. Crockett’s critics—often behind closed doors, more rarely in public—question whether she can pivot from fiery hearings to a general election battle in a state where just winning the Democratic primary is only half the climb. The critics point to eyebrow-raising comments from past interviews, including a suggestion that Hispanic voters who backed Trump have a “slave mentality” and her dig at Governor Greg Abbott as “Governor Hot Wheels.” (Abbott uses a wheelchair following an accident.) Allies argue Crockett is simply speaking truths that have long gone unspoken. “Our base is hungry for something different,” Crockett said, punctuating the sentence with a snap of her fingers. It was hard to miss the pride.Meanwhile, the contest took a sharper—and undeniably more awkward—turn after a TikTok clip made the rounds, accusing Talarico of calling former Senate candidate Colin Allred a “mediocre Black man.” In conversation, Talarico downplayed any racial intent, explaining that he’d only criticized Allred’s campaign style, not his character or background. Crockett herself shrugged it off as the predictable heat of a “racially charged” campaign, signaling she has little time for internet-fueled distractions.Money and influence, though, remain ever-present. Lone Star Rising, a PAC supporting Talarico, recently ran an ad hinting that Republicans were quietly backing Crockett, hoping she’d be easier to beat in November. Crockett accused her opponent of encouraging such attacks; Talarico denied it, maintaining his desire for a “positive campaign.”Of course, all this is happening in a state where Democrats haven’t won a Senate race since the late ’80s and where, today, national forecasters still color Texas “Likely Republican.” GOP odds, per the latest from the betting markets, have dropped but remain solidly above sixty percent. The Republican field is unsettled itself: Senator John Cornyn is in a tense primary against Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt, with Paxton—a lightning rod even before his legal troubles—leading, especially among Trump’s most devoted base. But the former president has withheld an endorsement, leaving room for turmoil as the campaign calendar rushes ahead.And while the numbers in hypothetical matchups show Republicans with only narrow edges—somewhere between two and four points, regardless of their nominee—it’s anyone’s guess if Democrats can consolidate after what’s shaping up as a brutal, deeply personal primary. Texas does have a history of surprises, though less frequently in statewide races these days. Trump’s steady gains with Latino voters since 2020—a margin stretching from 5.5 points up to nearly 14 in last year’s results—continue to give the GOP an extra cushion.For now, both Crockett and Talarico are betting that the right kind of message, the right turnout, and just a bit of luck could upend assumptions. Crockett brands herself as the product of “unprecedented times,” while Talarico pitches unity over division, wary of the billionaire-backed forces he says threaten to splinter the party and state alike.With the primary just weeks away—and a likely runoff looming if no one clears fifty percent—Democrats remain unsure, but not uninterested. Even among all the noise, a sense of stakes lingers: whichever candidate emerges, they’ll face a Texas political landscape where old rules seldom hold, and the path forward is anything but predictable.